Zoeller Plays Up Concern For Human Trafficking Ahead Of Brickyard 400

Zoeller with State Reps. Hale and Macer (WIBC/Eric Berman Photo)

Attorney General Greg Zoeller joined State Rep. Christina Hale and State Rep. Karlee Macer for a press conference out in Speedway ahead of this year's Brickyard 400 to warn about the dangers of human trafficking. "Large sporting events are peak times for commercial sex and exploitation," the press released reads. He says his office tracked Backpage.com ads during the 2015 NCAA Final Four Championship held in Indianapolis this past April and found a spike of more than 100 ads per day during the event. “It’s time people see the commercial sex industry for what it really is – the violent exploitation of women, children and men,” said Zoeller, who co-chairs the Indiana Protection for Abused and Trafficked Humans (IPATH) Task Force. “Traffickers target the most vulnerable in our society, isolate them from friends and family, and trap them in the sex trade. This is occurring right under our noses and we want everyone to recognize the signs.”

Here's a question our local news media won't ask of Zoeller. Why weren't you concerned about the ladies of the night who came into town from out-of-state to provide entertainment at the Geist mansion of Ponzi schemer Tim Durham for the sex and drug-filled parties frequently thrown by Durham that were attended by Indy's elite, including a bunch of politicians like yourself who accepted campaign contributions from Durham by the tens of thousands of dollars? Didn't your office employ Durham's step-son, Bernard Durham, as an "investigator" back in those days? What exactly were his job duties as an "investigator" in your office? Is your memory still "Fuzzy" from those days? Zoeller only gave up $11,000 in campaign contributions he received from Durham after the bankruptcy trustee for Fair Finance threatened to sue his campaign committee if he didn't return the
money.

Westfield Mayor Andy Cook's Trucking Business Set For Sheriff's Sale Next Month

Who read anything in any mainstream media reports during this past May's Westfield municipal primary election about Mayor Andy Cook's business, Hoosier Tradewinds, Inc. being foreclosed upon for debts of over $2.7 million owed, as well as unpaid taxes owed to the federal and state government? Well, it was. Hamilton Superior Court Judge William Hughes signed an order on June 17 of this year for the sale of the property at a sheriff's sale on August 20, 2015 to satisfy the debt upon which Mayor Cook's business defaulted nearly 18 months ago. Mayor Cook's son, Benjamin, is also a partner with him in the business.

Advance Indiana is told this includes about 80 acres of land on 236th Street in Arcadia, including about five acres where Hoosier Tradewinds built its trucking company business and another 75 acres operating under the name Bakers Corner Project, LLC. Cook's business was represented in the foreclosure suit by the law firm of Church Church Hittle & Antrim. The lender which foreclosed on the debt was TBF-CCA #1, LLC of Deerfield, Illinois. Their local registered agent is Ronald Brodey of Indianapolis.

Barnes & Thornburg represented the lender in the foreclosure action. In addition to the U.S. government and the Indiana Department of Revenue, other creditors named in the suit included: GE Capital, Dell Financial, Daimler Trust, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, Midwest Express, Inc., Eric Stoltz, Transportation Alliance Bank and Personal Attention Leasing.

Want to hear another interesting tale? Guess who the Court appointed as a receiver for Mayor Cook's business. That would be Anker Receivership Group, LLC, whose principal is none other than Terry Anker, the publisher of those local rags known as Current In Westfield, Current In Carmel, Current In Fishers, Current In Noblesville et al, which are nothing more than mouthpieces for corrupt municipal officials and their political cronies who control every major suburban city surrounding Indianapolis lock, stock and barrel. Does anyone think Mr. Anker's news publications might have a conflict of interest? Should we be surprised his publication made no issue of the personal financial woes facing Mayor Cook during his re-election campaign? Advance Indiana exclusively reported on the hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax liens filed against Mayor Cook's business by the IRS last February, a fact ignored by the local news media as he sought re-election to another four-year term.

I guess I should cut Anker some slack. The Indianapolis Star's Chris Sikich knew about it as well, along with many other local news reporters and refused to report on it. It's just another example of how you can no longer depend on your local newspaper or TV news stations to report the truth to you. A free and vibrant press is a dying breed in this country.

Council's Attorney Tells Council Members Everything About Blue Indy Deal Is Illegal

The Indianapolis City-County Council's attorneys Fred Biesecker told members of the Public Safety Committee yesterday evening that virtually every aspect of the one-sided agreement with Blue Indy is illegal.  Technically, the agreement is not fully-executed because the controller has never signed the agreement. Yet public property all over the city has already been seized and is in the process of being converted for exclusive use by Blue Indy's electric car sharing service. Its illegal cars have sat illegally parked advertising the monopoly franchise they've been illegally granted on Washington Street for over a year now.

Indianapolis is described as the showcase city for the French-owned company Bollore's electric car sharing service, but it's not getting off to a good start in America when it chooses to do business with the most corrupt mayor in the United States who is willing to break every law imaginable to provide the company a monopoly franchise agreement to operate its electric car sharing business in this city.

Essentially, the agreement entered into between the Ballard administration and the City provides an exclusive agreement to Blue Indy for a minimum initial term of 15 years to operate its electric car sharing business on city property. Mayor Ballard gave the company $6 million from the City's parking meter fund and IPL is kicking in over $3 million to install the power charging stations, make sidewalk improvements and other infrastructure improvements for the 200 sites being set up throughout the City to support a fleet of at least 500 Blue Indy electric cars occupying up to 1,000 parking spaces, including the most prime parking spaces in the City. If members of the public want to use the power charging stations for their electric cars, they have to sign an exclusive subscription agreement with Blue Indy to use the charging stations built with city tax dollars using city property.

The Ballard administration relied on its authority to grant encroachment licenses to private property owners, which Biesecker told council members is not applicable to exclusive franchise agreements. The encroachment license authority only gives the City authority to grant non-exclusive use of public right-of-way space. Biesecker says it is "nonsense" to say this can be done under an encroachment license. Biesecker noted encroachment licenses can be terminated at any time and are for one-year, renewable terms. The Blue Indy agreement can only be terminated by the City if Blue Indy mutually agrees to terminate the agreement or materially breaches the agreement with the City, whatever that means since very little is imposed upon Blue Indy by the one-sided agreement. Biesecker described the terminated clause as "embarrassingly weak." Biesecker repeated the point that the administration lacks authority to convert non-parking areas to parking areas for exclusive use by Blue Indy in violation of existing city ordinances.

The only favorable term for the City is the potential for a 15% revenue sharing if the company at some point becomes profitable. IPL will get reimbursed $4 million off the top, however, before the City would ever get the opportunity to share in any of those revenues, and it gets 2/3 of the following $4 million of profit-sharing (1/3 for the City). Blue Indy claims its investing $40 million of its own money. The way the term profitability is defined by the agreement is based on "cumulative net profit," which Biesecker suggested could take many years before the company shared its first dollar of profit with the City since it will be allowed to recoup its investment as well before profit sharing occurs.

This is the real kicker that shows just how criminal and illegal this deal is. The agreement makes Blue Indy exempt from all property taxes, parking taxes or any other tax that might be imposed on the company, and to the extent the company is required to pay a tax, the City is required to reimburse it for the amount of those taxes. Mayor Ballard has absolutely no authority to grant such an illegal, unconstitutional tax exemption. It is beyond outrageous that this man and the people working for him signing these illegal and corrupt deals have not been hauled away in handcuffs and charged with the multiple felonies they've committed. By the way, the administration gave this cake boy, David Rosenberg, who now has the title of "deputy mayor" authority to sign this agreement. Since when does a deputy mayor not even subject to confirmation by the City-County Council have legal authority to enter into one-sided, 15-year exclusive agreements with a private company on behalf of the City?

As I've said before, the rule of law has completely broken down in this state and this city. Special laws spring into existence for the benefit of political insiders who are permitted to steal our public assets for their exclusive personal use with the assistance of people who supposedly took an oath of office to uphold the constitution, state laws and local ordinances that supposedly govern us. There is no transparency in any of these arrangements. We have no idea who all owns a beneficial interest in these companies, but human nature tells us that certain individuals stand to make substantial sums of money illegally as a result of this and other illegal deals this administration has carried out the past eight years. Like I've said before, if you want to steal from the taxpayers, come to Indianapolis. There is nobody minding the store to stop you from doing it.

UPDATE: The Public Works Committee approved a resolution Thursday night calling for the towing of Blue Indy cars that are illegally parked on Washington Street in a no parking zone, which will now go before the full council for a vote.

Pulliam Square Puppy Park

As a condition to sharing in $5.5 million in public subsidies for its Pulliam Square mixed residential/retail project at the site of the former Indianapolis Star, TWG Development, LLC agreed to construct a publicly-accessible dog park and public plaza on North Delaware Street. Here's the new Puppy Park. Thank Mayor Greg Ballard and your Indianapolis City-County Council members for "investing" your tax dollars so wisely.

IndyCar Strips Drivers Of First Amendment Rights

Check out the new "Detrimental Competitor Conduct" rule the IndyCar series just put in place because Hulman & Company's Mark Miles isn't pleased with some critical comments some drivers have made of the racing series as of late:

Competitors must be respectful, professional, fair and courteous to others. At all times, Competitors must not, attempt to, or engage in conduct or statements that in the judgment of INDYCAR: 

a) Threatens or denigrates any Official, fellow Competitor or the INDYCAR brand;

b) Calls into question the integrity or legitimacy of the Rules or their application, construction or interpretation; 

c) Denigrates the IndyCar Series racing schedule or Event(s); 

d) Threatens or denigrates any INDYCAR business relationship, including those with sponsors or broadcasters; 

e) Otherwise threatens the integrity, reputation or public confidence of the sport, INDYCAR, or IndyCar Series.

The Indianapolis Star's Curt Cavin uncharacteristically criticizes the racing series, saying "it all looks silly." The rule does not specify the punishment that can be meted out for violation of the rule, "leaving more questions than answers" Cavin adds.

UPDATE: Cavin and Bob Kravitz reverse roles. Kravitz likes the new rule.

Some people look at IndyCar’s new rules against overt public criticism and call it a gag order. 

I call it overdue . .  . 

Angie's List Plunges On News Of Negative Second Quarter Earnings Report

The rare first quarter profit reported earlier this year by Angie's List now appears to be the product of creative bookkeeping as opposed to a turn-around in the company's two-decade consecutive streak of losing money. Shares of the company traded down more than 20% this morning as investors showed their displeasure at the company's negative second quarter numbers. Despite an 11% increase in year-over revenues, the company reported a loss of $8.3 million for the quarter.

Digging deeper into the numbers, you find the company slashed marketing expenses by nearly 30% or $10 million in an effort to stem losses, but it also saw a $16.9 million or 9% loss in membership revenues as the company now relies upon advertising revenues from the service providers for whom it supposedly provides objectives consumer ratings for nearly 80% of its revenues. It's also noteworthy the company's accounts payable nearly tripled over the same period last year from $5.4 million to $15.2 million. The second quarter losses wiped out the profits reported in the first quarter, leaving the company with a nearly $4 million loss through the first six months of the year.

Indianapolis taxpayers may have dodged a big bullet by not shoveling out tens of millions in new taxpayer subsidies for the Indianapolis-based company's corporate headquarters. Indianapolis City-County Council members delayed action on the plan pushed by Mayor Greg Ballard while it sought more information about the economic development incentives being offered to the company. The company's former CEO, Bill Oesterle, used the excuse of the state's passage of the RFRA law earlier this year as a reason for pulling consideration of the plan off the table after unleashing a team of high-paid lobbyists to cajole council members into approving the economic incentives sought by the company. He exited the company a short time later.

Blagojevich Wins Small, Hollow Victory In Public Corruption Case Appeal

A 7th Circuit Court of Appeals panel today threw out five of the eighteen public corruption felony convictions that resulted in the imprisonment of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to a harsh, 14-year prison sentence. All of those convictions overturned by the Court of Appeals today related to charges he tried to land appointment as a member of President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet in exchange for appointing Valerie Jarrett to fill Obama's Senate seat from Illinois. Unfortunately for Blagojevich, today's decision will not likely lead to a reduction in his sentence. Federal sentencing guidelines would have allowed the trial court judge to sentence him up to 20 years for the original 18 convictions.

The trial court errors corrected by the Court of Appeals' opinion authored by Judge Frank Easterbrook related to the jury instructions used to find Blagojevich guilty of attempted extortion, bribery and mail fraud charges related to the conversations he had with Obama and his surrogates concerning the exercise of his power to appoint Obama's Senate replacement. Those discussions included offers to appoint Valerie Jarrett to the Senate seat if Obama appointed Blagojevich as a member of his cabinet, helped him land a suitable job in the private sector or help raise funds to establish a nonprofit organization to be headed up by Blagojevich. In each of the five convictions overturned by today's decision, the government was required to prove the existence of a quid for quo.

To prove a quid pro quo, the government must be able to prove the performance of an official government act in exchange for a private benefit, such as money. The problem with the trial court's jury instructions is that it permitted the jury to find Blagojevich guilty for trading one official government act for another. Blagojevich could agree to appoint Jarrett to the Senate seat in exchange for a promise from Obama to appoint him to a position in his cabinet without committing a crime the Court of Appeals reasoned. Political logrolling, the swap of one official act for another, is not a quid pro quo within the meaning of the applicable federal public corruption laws. "Governance would hardly be possible without these accommodations, which allow each public official to achieve more of his principal objective while surrendering something about which he cares less, but the other politician cares more strongly," Easterbrook wrote.

Theoretically, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago could retry Blagojevich on these five charges with proper jury instructions, but that is unlikely to occur since the bulk of the government's charges against him were affirmed. Blagojevich has already faced two trials. At his first trial, the government obtained only one conviction against him for lying to federal investigators; the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the balance of the charges. The government won convictions on all of the remaining charges at his subsequent trial. The trial court judge, James Zagel, will immediately re- sentence Blagojevich if the government chooses not to retry him on the five charges thrown out by the Court of Appeals. Judge Zagel could reduce Blagojevich's sentence, but the chances of that happening are probably not very likely.

As you can see from the video below, Blagojevich's attorney was extremely disappointed by today's ruling. He believes the Court of Appeals panel still got the law wrong in upholding the other convictions against the former governor, such as soliciting campaign contributions from supporters of former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson in exchange for an agreement to appoint him to the Senate seat, which of course failed to come to fruition before federal prosecutors had Blagojevich arrested. He reminds reporters his client was not convicted of accepting one dime for his own personal use. That's an interesting observation given that at least one witness in the investigation told federal prosecutors convicted political fixer Tony Rezko had delivered bags of cash to Barack Obama and had helped him financially in the purchase of his south side mansion. At one point during the investigation, someone leaked to the media a claim that Rezko had paid building contractors for work they were hired to perform on Blagojevich's home. Federal prosecutors pursued no charges and presented no evidence of such payments at either of his trials. In fact, they never called Rezko as a witness, even though information he supposedly furnished them served as the basis for their lengthy investigation and prosecution of Blagojevich.

British Royals Cry Foul Because Newly-Released Video Shows Them As Nazi Sympathizers

Mainstream media reports are brushing off a newly-discovered home video shot in 1933 showing Queen Elizabeth and her younger sister giving the Nazi salute on cue from the Queen's mother and her uncle, the future King Edward VIII, a renowned Nazi sympathizer who abdicated the crown in 1936 so he could marry Wallis Simpson, an American who had previously been married and divorced. The Sun newspaper is being excoriated for making the video public, which appears may have been inadvertently released to documentary makers by the royal family last year. The House of Windsor as it is known is actually of German ancestry like most of the other royal families of Europe.

Will It Take A Harrisburg-Style Financial Collapse To Get Justice In Indiana?

Former Mayor Stephen Reed was popular with the voters and the media folks who covered him during his long tenure as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's mayor, where he easily won re-election to office every time he faced voters until the City found itself in financial ruins and was eventually forced to file bankruptcy. Last week, a state prosecutor brought 499 felony charges against the former mayor for what she described as corruption spanning decades. Among the charges Reed faces are allegations he diverted city funds intended for other projects to purchase millions of dollars worth of artifacts he planned to put in museums he planned to build, which he kept for himself after losing re-election in 2009. State prosecutors say Reed used his "gregarious" and "charming" ways to cajole and bribe members of the city council with jobs and other favors in exchange for approving increased borrowing through a series of bond issues that led the city to bankruptcy. State prosecutors say Reed's indictment is the first of many it plans to bring.